It seems impossible. The rope won’t give, and she can’t get the rope up or down her arms to be able to reach the knot with her nails. She can do this, she knows it.
Suddenly, the car comes to a stop and she hears the sound of the parking brake engaging. This is definitely not a stop light. Then the car engine shuts off. Remi is out of time.
Her hands are still bound tightly behind her, and she tries to think of something, anything she can do. She needs to get away from these guys, and soon. There’s no telling what they’ll do now that they’ve decided to go rogue.
She hears two car doors slam separately, then voices as the two men have a rather long discussion, more like an argument, right outside the car. Remi can’t make out what they’re saying, but there definitely seems to be something wrong.
The arguing lasts for a few minutes. Then it comes to a sudden stop. It’s starting to get stuffy in the car, and she knows they’ll either get back in, or take her out, and soon.
Remi decides to take a chance, and positions her body as best she can, ready to kick whoever opens the hatchback door. She readies her ab muscles to pull herself to a standing position if her kick is successful. If it isn’t, well, she doesn’t even want to let her mind wander down that path.
Finally, she hears some movement outside the door and a shadow passes over her face. She closes her eyes, feigning sleep. She has kept her upper body in the same position they put her in the car in, hoping whoever opens the door won’t notice she’s shifted her lower body.
This is it, the moment of truth.
The hatchback creaks open.
BAM! She kicks both her feet into the shorter henchman’s face as hard as she can. He lets out a yell and falls backwards.
Without pausing, Remi wrestles her way to her feet, which is not easy, and takes a quick look at her surroundings. They’re on the shoulder of one of the highways heading out of town. There are grass fields on either side of the two lane road. She doesn’t have time to guess which direction is which, because the short man is crawling to his feet.
“Why, you little bitch!” he screams and lunges towards her.
She runs. Faster than she ever has before. Down the road from which she assumes they came, hoping to see another car.
She doesn’t look back, but she can hear the shorter man in pursuit. She isn’t sure where the taller man went, but she doesn’t have time or energy to try and figure it out.
There are no cars coming, and none down the road that she can see. She knows she can’t run forever, she’ll need to find cover, and fast.
The shorter man is still following her, but she can tell by the sound of his footsteps that he’s out of shape and falling behind. But he can definitely still see her, which means she’s still as good as dead.
She chances a look over her shoulder to see he’s yards behind her. She’s definitely losing him.
Why doesn’t this state have any damn trees? she wonders to herself as her lungs begin to burn and her legs start to lose feeling. She’s going to burn out if she doesn’t find a place to hide.
Up ahead, a figure starts to take form on the street in front of her, someone is walking her way! She’s about to call out to him when she realizes it’s the other henchman! That’s why the shorter one gave up chase!
With absolute panic, she veers off the road and begins running through the grass. Luckily, or unluckily, the grass is waist high. It makes it hard to run, but once she’s gone about thirty seconds she flops down on her stomach and holds her breath.
The man was walking with his head down, but there’s still a chance he saw her turn and head into the grass. She waits silently, praying he didn’t see her.
She can’t hear him from her position, and she hopes that means he can’t hear her heavy breathing either.
After what seems like sufficient time for him to pass by, she once again wrangles herself back to her feet. Her hands are now numb thanks to the rope being too tight. She gets herself into a crouching position and peeks up over the grass.
The tall man passed right by!
She isn’t out of the woods yet, though, she knows it will only take a few minutes before he meets up with his buddy and finds out she’s missing. And he can probably run a lot faster than his friend.
Remi looks around and tries to quickly consider the best course of action. She could go back to the road and run faster, but more visibly, or stay in the grass.
She decides to stay in the grass and begins to awkwardly chicken-run away from the road as best she can with grass hitting her in the face.
Her awkward run isn’t nearly as sustainable as her run on the road, and her adrenaline rush is starting to fade. She knows she needs to get as far from the road as possible, so she keeps herself crouched down and slows her pace to an awkward walk.
Soon the walk slows to a crawl, and then she finds herself sitting with no more energy whatsoever to move. She hopes she’s made it far enough.
She doesn’t hear any noises or signs of pursuit, and soon, the sun begins to set and the temperature begins to drop.
Remi tries to use her arms for warmth, but it’s no use as they’re still tied up. She needs to keep moving. She wrestles herself back to her feet and begins walking. She doesn’t even know what direction she’s headed in, she just hopes it isn’t back into the hands of her kidnappers.
The night comes fast, and it’s pitch black. The temperature is uncomfortably cold. Her bare feet are numb. Has she really escaped only to die of frost bite in the countryside?
Just as she’s about to call it quits and give in to the exhaustion beginning to take over her limbs, she sees something in the distance.
There’s a light.
She musters her last ounce of energy and begins to walk towards it.
RAYNA
NOW
She sits outside the police station staring at the piece of paper in her hand for what seems like forever. She knows she should just go over there and get started on a new job. She should, but she doesn’t feel like it.
Pulling her almost dead phone out of her pocket, she glances at the screen and grimaces. There are missed calls from her parents and John. She dismisses them all and pulls up her Uber app. She should probably head back before they start to think she’s gone missing, too.
Just as she opens the app, her phone screen goes black, the battery giving up on her, too.
Great, just great.
Rayna glances over her shoulder at the police station. She should go back in and ask to use a charger, she supposes. She feels her cheeks flush at the embarrassment of having confessed her recent profession to Detective Brown.
No. She can’t face going back into the station, either.
Rayna stands up and brushes off her clothes. They’re a mess, wrinkled from sleeping in them all night. Not to mention she still vaguely smells of booze.
She begins her walk to the metro station. She can at least go to a stop a bit closer to her parents’ place, then walk from there. Her parents live in a neighborhood similar to the one she lived in with Zeki. Out of the city, and also out of easy range of public transit.
On the walk, she begins to entertain the idea that maybe Remi will never be found. Maybe she’s about to be an only child. Then, as if the wind whispers it, she hears Remi’s voice in her head.
Don’t give up on me just yet.
Rayna smiles to herself. Remi will survive whatever happens to her, she just knows it.
The metro is empty this time of day, as it’s past the morning commute time but before the lunch rush. Rayna’s lucky enough to get a seat right in the back of the train, and she watches the train tracks as they speed out from under her. It’s sort of a liberating feeling.
She steps off the train and makes her way up the steps toward the sidewalk.
“Rayna?” a familiar voice calls.
She turns to the left to see Katie standing there, outside the metro stop, a brown paper bag in her hand. She looks extremely confused to se
e her.
“Hi, Katie,” Rayna replies and steps toward her friend.
Katie steps back. “Wh-what are you doing here?” Katie glances around the empty sidewalk, seemingly extremely nervous.
Her behavior is making Rayna nervous. So much so that she stops walking when she’s still a few feet away. “I’m going to my parents’ house,” she says guardedly.
“But, I mean…why?” The words come out garbled and clearly not a full sentence. Something is definitely up. Rayna glances around, wondering if her friend sees something she doesn’t. Does she really look that bad?
“I had a rough night,” she tries to explain her appearance away.
“Yeah, but um…” Katie trails off, obviously running out of words to mish mash together.
“Are you okay, Katie?”
When she says her friend’s name, it’s as if a change comes over Katie, she stands up straighter and becomes more composed. The flush on her face begins to disappear. “Do you need a ride?” she asks, seemingly back to her normal self.
Rayna still feels apprehensive about her supposed friend’s earlier behavior. Why was she so shocked to see her?
She looks around again. It would be rude of her to decline.
“Sure. If you don’t mind. Sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, sorry, I was just distracted. Too much on my mind, I guess. C’mon, I’m parked right over here.” She motions to a red convertible parked by the side of the road. Rayna climbs into the passenger seat.
“So were you out doing errands?” Rayna asks hesitantly as her friend starts the car.
“Yeah, uh, I was,” Katie answers cryptically. Katie pulls out of the parking lot and heads toward the main road.
“My parents’ house is in the Little Creek subdivision, if you know where that is,” Rayna volunteers, since Katie hasn’t asked for directions.
Katie’s silent for a moment before she responds. “You know Rayna, why don’t you come back to my place and get cleaned up first? I’d hate for you to go home looking like that. And I have some clothes I think that will fit you.”
She glances at the clothes she’s wearing. She didn’t think they were that bad. But maybe they are. “Thanks Katie, but I have stuff to change into at my parents’ house. And they’re used to me coming home looking like crap. I did it all the time in my late high school years. They’ll just shake their heads like normal.” Rayna doubts they’ll say anything because they’re probably too busy worrying about Remi.
“You know Rayna, I really think you should come back to my place.” She turns and looks at Rayna for a moment with a serious stare before turning her eyes back to the road.
“Thanks Katie, I appreciate you looking out for me, but really, I should just go home. I’ve been gone for too long as it is.”
Katie’s quiet for another moment, then when she looks over at Rayna again there’s moisture in her eyes. “Please Rayna, I just really need some company right now. Mark and I are having a tough time and it would be great to have a girlfriend over…” She trails off, brushing away a tear that escapes down her cheek.
Rayna isn’t sure what to do. She really needs to get home to her parents and she can’t call because her phone is dead…
“Okay I’ll come with you, but can I use your phone to call my parents? They’re probably worried sick and mine is dead.”
“Sure,” Katie answers quickly, her somber mood suddenly gone. She reaches into her purse and pulls out her phone, glancing at the screen. It looks as if it lights up for a minute, then the screen goes dark. “Oh shoot. Mine just died too. You know what? Come back with me and we can call from there.”
“Okay,” Rayna agrees hesitantly. She’s pretty sure she saw Katie’s phone screen light up. It’s odd if it literally just died. But she doesn’t want to argue when her friend is having a tough time. “Thanks.”
“Anytime, that’s what friends are for.”
Rayna still feels weird about the entire exchange. Katie’s mood has shifted a number of times. Is she really having that tough of a time with her relationship?
The houses slowly become larger and larger as they leave her parents’ side of town and head deeper into the suburbs, more toward where the party she attended was. Memories from that night suddenly flash to the front of her mind.
Katie turns off the street into a large driveway. It isn’t gated like the house the party was at, but the house still costs easily over half a million dollars. Rayna wonders what Mark does for a living. She winces as she remembers him drunkenly coming on to her at the party.
The girls don’t talk as they exit the car and head up the walk. Katie slides her key into the lock and pushes open the door.
Rayna’s immediately impressed by the high ceilings and all-white décor, just stepping into the entryway she feels she’s definitely too dirty to be there.
Katie slides off her shoes and Rayna follows suit, leaving them just outside the white shoe organizer placed by the door.
As they head into the kitchen, Rayna feels she should say something, apologize for what happened all those weeks ago. “Listen, Katie,” she starts as her friend takes down two glasses from a hanging wine glass rack that Rayna is sure cost more than she makes in a month waiting tables. “About what happened at that party, I’m really sorry. I know I shouldn’t blame anyone but Mark, he came on to me and—“
“Shh.” Katie places her finger on Rayna’s lips making her step back a step. “Don’t worry about it, it’s all in the past now.” A wide grin spreads across her face. “Shall we have some wine?” She places an empty glass in Rayna’s hand.
Rayna grimaces, remembering the night before. “Actually, thanks but I think I’m done drinking for awhile.”
“Aw come on.” Katie pouts. “Just one glass? I don’t want to drink alone. And I need a glass.”
“Alright, one glass,” Rayna agrees. Rayna figures she can just swirl it around and pretend to drink it. Katie won’t notice.
“Okay I’ll even let you go down to the wine cellar and pick one out. Whatever you want and we will pop it open.” Katie winks.
“You have a wine cellar?” Rayna’s impressed. She’s seen in movies that people have them in their houses, but she’s never actually been in someone’s personal wine cellar.
“I do. Come right this way.” She leads Rayna around a corner and down the stairs toward the basement. The room at the bottom of the stairs is not nearly as impeccable as the upstairs décor, in fact it’s quite boring, outfitted with a TV and a simple couch.
As if she knows what Rayna’s thinking, Katie quickly pipes in, “this is Mark’s area of the house. He wanted one place to call his own so I said this could be his ‘man den,’ whatever that means.” She rolls her eyes with a giggle.
Rayna doesn’t really know what to say, as when she moved in with Zeki he pretty much did whatever he wanted without consulting her. That’s what he always did, now that she thinks about it.
“Here.” Katie motions to a trap door in the floor. “There’s no light down there but I’ll go grab a flashlight, you get started from what you can see with the light from up here.”
Rayna watches as she pulls open the trap door and lowers a ladder down like the one her parents had for their attic door when she was a child. She steps down onto the first step, most of her body still above the trap door. “I really can’t see anything, maybe you better grab that flashlight first. I don’t even think I can get started without it.” All Rayna can see is the pitch black beyond a small square of light from the door.
“Here, I’ll shine my phone flashlight for you.” Katie pulls her cell phone out of her pocket as Rayna steps down two more steps.
Rayna reaches up one hand to grab the phone and then pauses as realization hit her. “But wait, didn’t you say your phone was dead?”
A grin spreads across Katie’s face, and before Rayna can react she feels a hand push her chest forcefully and she feels herself falling backwards off the ladder. She sear
ches around her for something, anything to grab on to, but her arms merely encounter air.
Until her shoulder hits the ground with a sickening crack. Rayna gasps in pain, unable to move as the sharp knives crawl up her neck and down her arm. It takes her a minute to remember what she was doing.
“Katie!” she calls back up to the square of light, her shoulder throbbing and pain burning her vision. “I think my arm is broken!”
There’s a shadow blocking part of the light, probably Katie’s head. But the shadow doesn’t say anything and the ladder begins to retreat.
“Katie! What are you doing!” Rayna calls out again, scrambling to move, but the shooting pain keeps her from being able to get to her feet quickly. Before she even finishes standing, the light disappears and there’s a thump as the trap door is shut.
Rayna finds herself standing, cradling her arm in the pitch black.
“Katie!” she calls again.
She strains her ears, listening for her friend to say this is just some sort of joke, but no sound reaches her ears.
Rayna looks around, unable to see anything. She tries to reach out with her good arm to feel around her, but she finds the minute she lets go of her broken arm, pain shoots up her shoulder. Cradling her bum arm in her good one, she begins to inch her foot forward very slowly, using it to feel the area around before she puts it down. She’s really hoping she doesn’t run into a wall.
After a few steps, she does encounter a wall, then she walks along it with her good shoulder up against it, trying to feel for something, anything she can use to get out of here.
She comes to a corner, then another, and another. The edge of the room is completely empty. There’s no wine, no weapons, nothing.
Rayna slowly lowers herself to the floor, wondering just what she did for Katie to do this to her. Does Katie really hate her that much? Is all of this just because she saw Rayna kiss her husband?
With a sigh, Rayna leans her head back against the wall, beginning to worry about her broken arm. She definitely needs medical attention, she knows that. But she also knows Katie isn’t likely to come back here anytime soon. Rayna is beginning to wonder if she’s going to come back at all. After all, Rayna knows where Katie lives and what she looks like. And Katie didn’t wear a disguise.
Before Now Page 19